Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

My dad was an aircraft engine inspector at Bristol Aircraft Co. when I was born (it's on my birth certificate - it says, peacetime occupation "printer's engraver at artificial silk manufacturer"). Before I was born my mum worked, for a time, at the ROF at Guide, Blackburn, making fuses for bombs. Both were targeted by the Luftwaffe but, due to excellent camoflage, weren't ever hit.

I believe there was 1 bomb dropped on Oswaldtwistle, which hit the library. Dad used to say that the German plane was unloading its bombs ready for the flight back, a common practice at the time, and aiming for Oswaldtwistle moors. The general belief that German planes always deliberately targeted civilians was not, strictly, true though my mum used to tell me a harrowing tale about a fighter-bomber straffing the street in Guide and shooting the coalman and his horse, a tale which always made me cry.

The pow camp at Stanhill was only used for Italians until about 1943. By the time I was old enough to have any knowledge of it, it housed German pows (I was born in 43) and I have vague memories of them as they used to go in my auntie's bakers shop in West End when I was very small. They were "the enemy" but, to me, they were just nice men who talked with a strange accent.

I've never heard of a V1 or V2 dropping locally. They didn't have the fuel to get this far North and mostly dropped on London and the South east

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

my grandad told me of a plane that crashed onto some land in or near baxenden i think it was a park im not sure,i think it was a german plane but i didnt take too much notice of what he told me

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

did any kids from the south or the cities ever come stay around here??

and where abouts in stan hill was that POW camp?

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

My Gran, who lived in Buxton Street, had some evacuee kids from Salford. My Mum always said they were "really common"!

The Italian POW camp was on your righthand side as you go along the main road from Ossy towards Knuzden. It was on that open land after Noel's factory, overlooking Blackburn Road. Ted Heath was stationed on the AA batteries during the war.

Incidentally, you can still see the gap in the row of houses where the bomb was dropped in Clayton. It's about two or three blocks after the Crown on the same side, going towards Clayton.

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

The early ones - from the middle of June 1944 - certainly did not. However, like most weapons systems, the V1 was enhanced over the following months.

This is a website which appears to be that of a local (Lancashire) historian which mentions the Ossy V1. Possibly because it appears to have carried leaflets and not a warhead, may be the reason for its longer range in reaching Ossy.

http://www.jp29.org/2ar.htm

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

That website is by jamesicus who is a member here, you may remember his world war 2 thread from a few years ago, it is still well worth a read now.... http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...r-ii-3711.html

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

I thought it sounded familiar.

If I recall, there was also a piece in the Observer a few years back about the thing coming down south of Ossy. Can't pinpoint it, though.

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

I would love to see the facts to back up this statement.

The Irish position was officially neutral, (though they where more biased towards assisting the allies than the axis powers),during the second world war
They (the Irish Government), called this period of time The Emergency. Although a few Irish people, (mainly the IRA), thought they may be able to take advantage of the situation and perhaps get a united Ireland if Germany won, over two hundred thousand Irish men and women volunteered to serve in the British forces for the duration of the war many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for our freedom.

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

Yeah...very peculiar. I doubt very much if the German bombing route to England was via Ireland, given the need to maximise payload at the expense of fuel. In fact, in simple terms the Germans used the system of flying along the (radio) beams; when these were intersected by a second, it was time for 'bombs away'.

I think there was one incidence of Dublin being bombed; de Valera (the Irish PM) blamed Churchill, claiming he had tricked the Germans into bombing Dublin.

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

I read somewhere that apparently none of the iron from all the railings were ever used to make munitions.

A bomb exploded on Bent Street (behind the Royal Oak) in Oswaldtwistle. My Grandmother was working at Sam Boot's the bakers, now Martin's at 325 Union Road, and the windows cracked with the force.

There was also a prisoner of war camp on Stanhill moor. There was a BBC2 programme, 'The Germans We Kept', about how the prisoners were taken in by the congragation of York St. Methodist Church for Christmas. My family were featured in it. There is a small exhibition about in at Ossy Mills.

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

Taken from here:-

Participants in World War II

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

My dad worked in Liverpool during the war in the factories there. He was a reserved occupation - he was a farmer in Northern Ireland. And my aunt served in the WAAFs over here she was from Northern Ireland as well. She stayed over here and met my uncle and married him. My dad went home and met my mum.

My mums story of her war was different - she was in Northern Ireland and lived on a farm. She was a smuggler! She used to get on her bike and ride over the border into Eire and come back with stuff. The stories she told me about her smuggling.

They are all dead now and there are times now i wish that i'd written their stories down when they were alive.

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

was the ROF in blackburn not making bombs in WW2?.:engsmil:

Re: What was accrington like during the war?
 

I was in Blackpool during the war having been bombed out of London and Manchester and didn’t arrive in Accrington until 1945 when I was just 8 years old.

My thanks must go to Roy for the link to the excellent thread by jamesicus. It brought back so many vivid memories.

My thanks must also go to Thames Television for producing that brilliant series “The World At War”. I bought the series on DVD from Amazon a few weeks back and have been ploughing through each episode. Schools could do with showing the whole series to their pupils as part of the recent history curriculum. It would give the youth of today an insight what their grandparents went through so that they could be educated in English and have the freedom to behave as they do.

Incidentally steve the ROF in Blackburn was nicknamed “The Fuse” so no they did not make the bombs. The casing and fuses yes but no explosives. Unless it was a well kept war secret.